Review Summary: Now synthesizers were in, and their effects in Queen’s music experimented with. Hard Rock was replaced with Funk, and even Freddie would grow a moustache (eventually).
Not bad, not bad, not bad at all.
I have always enjoyed this one. Does it have its problems? Of course. But overall it has enough fun for me to forgive it. Yeah fun, something I probably haven’t been able to say since A Night at the Opera.
The main reason for this? Well, unlike the previous two it felt different, fresh, and kinda new. Oh of course there’s the usual Queen style tracks like “Play the Game” and “Save Me,” but the rest, even the fillers, were interesting.
Before I start the album review, I have decided to mention something that I never did in my previous Queen reviews. The die hard Queen fans will all tell you that for all of their studio album releases in the “1970’s,” the band would always specifically note, at the back of the album, that they used no synthesizers. Now some might find that cool, but personally I never really cared much about it. Of course I had an initial, ‘oh interesting,’ but did it change my opinion of these albums? Not at all. So in truth it served nothing more than a novelty purpose or false advertising, in truth in meant nothing, zero… zilch.
Not to say that making an album without synthesizers isn’t cool, but this was the “1970’s,” and not until maybe “1977” or “1978,” had it started to become an important or perhaps more correctly an essential commercial necessity of the music industry.
So, although as bad as “News of the World” might have been, it was still a commercial success when released in “1977,” because synthesized acts of the pre new-wave era were few and far between. But by “1978’s” “Jazz” when new-wave acts like “Blondie,” “Elvis Costello,” and “The Clash,” were starting to rule the airwaves, Queen by now, were looking extremely out of touch, and were rightfully criticised so by the critics, and many of the musical public.
That brings us to “1980’s” “The Game.” Which coincidentally is their first album release of that decade. Now synthesizers were in, and their effects in Queen’s music experimented with. Hard Rock was replaced with Funk, and even Freddie would grow a moustache (eventually). For better or for worse Queen were finally about to move forward with their music.
As for synthesizers, in my personal opinion, I have mixed feelings. Yes, if used badly they can (as most 1980’s music was) end up sounding extremely cheesy, (and especially now) and outdated. But if it is used for a musical or emotional purpose, or even just used to enhance a song by a little, then they can be excellent tools. We will of course see examples of both good and bad uses of synthesizers in this album.
So we start of things with (coincidentally) a typical Queenesque number “Play the Game.” This would have probably fitted just as well on “News of the World” or “Jazz.” But saying that, it’s a damn fine song. It starts of as a slowed down version of Killer Queen, but what really sells it well is the synthesized middle section, mixed in with Brian’s guitar solo. (The first time we hear synthesizers on a Queen album) Here the synthesizers mix well with Brian’s guitar solo, in the middle section, and are never over used.
The first funk song of the album is “Dragon Attack,” and it’s a complete gem. It’s got a cool bass/guitar riff but again, like the first track, what sells it is the middle section, where the band chants “Cool down, gonna make my business, show time, give me the business…” this is ultra cool, and Brian’s guitar solo fits in perfectly just after this chant finishes. One of the best ever 'non-single' Queen tracks.
The most famous song on the album is “Another one bites the dust.” The synthesizers are excellent here in giving it that extra edge and of course that famous beat. And although it has been played gazillion of times on the radio, it’s still a cool and brilliant song, although admittingly not in the same class as “Dragon Attack.”
“Need your lovin’ tonight,” is the first filler of the album. Although not a bad song, it just seems to fall a tad short, and sounds more like a left over song from “Jazz,” although as far as that album is concerned a good leftover.
The bands first number 1 US hit, “Crazy little thing called love,” comes next. Another famous song of the album, after “Another one bites the dust,” it’s a zany, Elvis style, energetic, acoustic number, with naturally, a cool Brian solo in the middle section.
After this sadly, bar two songs, the rest of the album turns into a disappointment.
“Rock it (Prime Jive),” is poor mans funk, and over uses synthesizers. Whilst the previous tracks used it when needed, this song (including vocals by Freddie and Roger), is mainly done with them (with a touch of a Brian guitar solo).
One of the worst songs on the album is “Don’t try suicide.” It sadly turns into a re-hash of what Queen were doing in “News of the World,” and “Jazz,” and perhaps has more in common with the latter, as it sounds like a woeful version of Bicycle Race but with synthesizers.
The ballad, “Sail Away Sweet Sister” is a gem. It’s sung elegantly by Brian May, and is about a guy who has to accept that his sister will have to move on in life someday too. There’s a cool middle section too, where Freddie takes over for the vocals for a moment, before the rest of the band sing in Unisom “way to soon;” in typical Queen vocal harmony fashion.
If “Don’t try Suicide” was one of the worst songs on the album, then “Coming Soon” is the worst. I did think it was sung by Roger at first, and would have therefore been yet another bad Roger Taylor song, but upon further listen realised it was Freddie (Although Roger does support back up for the verses). The problem with this song is that it’s tuneless over-hyped with synthesizers and just goes no where.
The album ends though with the excellent “Save Me.” And as “The Game” started with the Queenesque “Play the Game,” it ends in the same vein with this song. It reminded me of a shorter version of “It’s Late” and was just as good.
So that’s The Game, and here’s its recap.
PLAY THE GAME
Excellent Queenesque song to add with the rest. 4/5
DRAGON ATTACK
The best song on the album. 5/5
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
Despite too much radio play, it’s still a classic. 5/5
NEED YOUR LOVIN’
Average filler, decent enough though. 2.5/5
CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE
If you’re gonna do Elvis, this is how to do it. 5/5
ROCK IT (PRIME JIVE)
Jus pitiful, too much synthesizers ruins it. 1/5
DON’T TRY SUICIDE
Bad, bad, bad= Terrible. 1/5
SAIL AWAY SWEET SISTER
Another good Brian May song. 3/5
COMING SOON
Don’t know what to make of this, but it’s awful. 1/5
SAVE ME
Ends the album as well as it started it. 4/5
So that gives “The Game” an average of 3.15, which is only second to “A night at the Opera.”
So to compare to the first seven studio releases. (P.S, there was no re-cap for “Live Killers” as this was a live compilation and I only re-cap studio releases)
Queen 2.7
Queen II 2.59
Sheer Heart Attack 3
A Night at the Opera 3.96
A Day at the races 2.59
News of the World 2.4
Jazz 2.3
TO CONCLUDE
So what was it that made it so good? Well, in my opinion anyway. It was more to do with the fact that it sounded new and fresh, but also that this was a direction the band hadn’t gone before. For a change I felt excited and enjoyed the experience. Although like previous Queen albums it still had those annoying elements (silly or bad tracks) that stopped it being a truly great album.
3/5
